Blue Skies Dragonflies

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

homemade cheese from raw goat milk...

project #2 using raw goat's milk...homemade cheese!

i got this recipe from the lovely mama who is supplying our fresh goat's milk...miss amanda wilder!

1. pour a half gallon fresh, raw milk into a stainless steel stockpot (our was goat's milk)

2. heat over med-high, stirring occasionally until milk reaches a temp of 190-195 degrees (for us, this took 30 min)

3. IMMEDIATELY add 1/4 c of white vinegar, stirring constantly until curds being to form (which should happen almost immediately)

4. place a colander in some sort of large bowl/container to catch the liquid (whey) , then line colander with a doubled piece of cheesecloth/t-shirt/old school cloth diaper that has been bleached.

pour the pot of curds & whey into the colander.

5. pour the whey into glass mason jars, label & save in the refrigerator for use in other recipes.

(the whey will keep in the fridge for up to 6 months)

6. tie up the cloth & hang over a glad jar/bowl, allowing the last bit of whey to drain & the cheese to harden.

leave cheese to hang & firm for about 2 hours.

7. untie & marvel at your lovely, not to mention delicious homemade cheese!

our 2 gal of milk resulted in a little over 2 quarts of whey & 10.5 oz of cheese.

we ate our cheese at lunch yesterday, it was delicious! despite the fact that it was made with goat's milk, it did not taste at all goaty.

the boys did say that it needed a bit of flavoring...i am thinking of adding some fresh herbs into the curds before hanging for our next batch.

hooray for homemade goodness & the 'simple life'!

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

chickens, gardens & the squids...

here are a few random, but nonetheless lovely photos from our past few weeks...enjoy!

the chicks, now 3 months old, in their chicken tractor...

a toad we discovered while weeding in the garden...

evyn, our 15 month old, is half rabbit, i think! we weed for 1 hour each week (tuesday is gardening day, you know) and she keeps herself busy nibbling on this & that until we are through...i love it!

more love for the toad...

what odes a toad feel like, mommy??

evyn is intrigued by this little warty creature... ;)

blueberries bushes...you might notice that they are picked clean (this would be evyn's work as well)

tomatoes & okra...

hunting down the baby chicks in their "fort" (aka our mountain of lemon balm)...

aha! there they are!...

6 ameraucana & 4 speckled sussex...

they absolutely love it in there...

sibling love...

happy gardening!

raw milk, curds & whey...

okay, so i have been wanting to take it a bit further, diet-wise...more healthy, more natural, less prepackaged, more bulk foods, etc.

i asked around for a good cookbook as a place to get my bearings & so many folks recommended "nourishing traditions", by sally fallon, that i ordered a copy...speed. (it was & is still on sale for like 1/2 off @ amazon.com if you'd like to invest in your own copy! :)

it is amazing!...and so much more than a cookbook. amazing articles said to unnerve the 'diet dictocrats' that we are currently (ill)advised by.

covers loads of ingredients & topics, sidebars chock full of info grace each page, not to mention the lengthy introduction covering "the basics".

at any rate, i am trying to resist my usual desire to jump in 100%, and just do 1/2 new recipes or 'projects' per week. so far, so good...

we have a friend who raised milk goats, so i started getting fresh, raw goat milk from her a couple of weeks back & absolutely love it! it tastes just like real milk (probably b/c it is, right! ;)

it will last 3 or 4 days as it, or you can pasteurize it by heating it in a stainless steel stock pot to 190-195 degrees & that will give you another week before it starts getting a bit goaty.

so, that was step one. (check!)

step 2 was to make a few things with the milk.

project #1: cream cheese & whey (so easy!)

1. set jar ( i used 2 qts) of raw milk on counter & let stand at room temp for 2-4 days until the curds & whey separate (when fully separated the jar will be half curds & half whey).

*we used goat milk, which is on the longer end of the spectrum, apparently, ours took 4 days*

2. line a colander with an old t-shit/doubled cheesecloth/old-school (thin) cloth prefold diaper that has been bleached. set lined colander over some sort of bowl/container so that the precious whey (the liquid) will not be lost down the drain.

*i set our inside a large plastic tupperware, as that is all i had that was large enough*

3. pour jar of separated curds & whey into lined colander. once most of whey has drained through, lift colander out of bowl & set aside in other sink (as it will continue to drip a bit).

pour whey into clean/sterilized mason jars & mark with date & refrigerate. the whey can be used in loads of fermented vegetable & fruit recipes, also used in soaking grains & a variety of other recipes.

4. carefully lift cheesecloth out of colander & tie to wooden spoon. suspend wooden spoon over a over a large jar/bowl & allow the last bit of whey to drip out.

5. remove cream cheese from cheese cloth & put in a wide mouth glass jar, mark with date & refrigerate.

allow to sit in refrigerator for 24 hours before using.

as ours was made from raw goat milk, it does taste a bit goaty, more like the goat cheese that you would purchase at your local market. the texture is firmer though, i like it & there are definitely enough recipes on the wed that call for goat cheese, so no harm done.

my friend, amanda, who i get the milk from, suggested that i add a bit of honey to sweeten it up a bit, but i haven't tried that yet.

at any rate, that's it, you' re done! this recipe of 2 qts raw milk will yield 5 cups whey & 2 cups cream cheese.

the cream cheese will keep in the refrigerator for up to one month & the whey will keep for up to 6 months.

summer nature table...

summer solstice brings about the changing of our seasonal table...

one of our favorite 'chores' is changing our nature table.

cleaning & packing away our favorite spring finds, saving them for next year & getting the summer box down from the shelf...we love rediscovering what treasures we have collected over the years.

orin asked to set the table up himself this year, and so he did! it was interesting to see how he arranged things, as i think i tend to set them up nearly the same way each year...tradition, i guess.

ehren helped me take down & pack away our spring treasures & aydin busied himself building our lovely bee model. it was handed down/over to us from a neighbor/fellow homeschooler whose children are now teenagers.

it is such a simple part of our yearly rhythm, but it holds such anticipation & always turns into a great morning of sharing & recalling the memories from when a certain object or another was found...

i am actually joining the bits of goodness , "summer nature table swap", so we'll have a few new handmade treasures to add this season as well.

we spent the rest of our day working in the garden & otherwise enjoying the gorgeous world mother nature has created for us!

happy solstice to you all!

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

the laurel...

another "local geography" field trip...gotta love homeschooling, right?!? ;)

we celebrated the end of our school year with an amazing afternoon of picnic & play at friends at laurel river, located just outside of hot spring, nc.

i think this photo captures the general sentiment of the afternoon...hoo-rah!

wow! a pair of mating toads & their endless stream of eggs. i got to feel the eggs in their gelatinous casing...it felt like rinsed spagetti. it is quite firm, a lot more 'stable' that it looks...and very slimy. by the looks of it they had been laying for a while...the streams were a good 3-4' long at least.

thanks mike for spotting this pair! ;)